So, about to pull my alternator, my Haynes manual says verbatim...

"On 1985 and later models (except V6s) equipped with power steering, the coolant must be drained, the engine compartment bottom shroud must be removed and the coolant inlet hose must be detached from the engine before the alternator bolts are removed."

Is all of this nonsense really necessary?

Thanks,
Alex

 

In a word; NO~

 

May not be required but it make life a lot easier on a 22RE, especially if you have power steering, too. While it may be possible to remove w/o doing that, it takes little time to pull that lower rad. hose, catch the coolant in a bucket and use to refill after you are done. And I have tried once to do this w/o pulling the lower hose and I gave up. It also gives you more working room and less likely to damage the radiator. I have done this on the side of the road when my alt. died and I used a folding bucket to catch the coolant for re-use.

There must be a several different lower hose configs. on these engines and some are more forgiving that others.

 

I did my first alternator change a few months ago. The lower radiator did not need to be drained. I didn't even read the manual. I didn't read any guides. I just unbolted the old one and dropped it out. As for that hose, it was a pain to get the old alternator out and the new one in, but the hose was flexible so i was able to move it out of the way and just shove the alternator up in there. Took me about 5 minutes. Somehow, my dad went under and did it in 10 seconds.

Long story short, no. Don't drain the radiator. Will make things easier if you remove that hose, but is it worth it to add that extra work time when it isn't absolutely necessary?

 

You could always just pull it out from the top, that's how I got mine in and out. However, I don't have power steering or one of them namfangled fancy "EFI" engines, so I don't know if other stuff would be in the way for those.

 

No can do on the power steering engines. Although you can access the alternator to rotate it and pry it tight into place, you can't drop it in. At least I couldn't.

 

You don't have power steering!!??? Primitive!

.. and I thought my ride was caveman-ish.

 

Don't need it, I know how to drive.

 

I've done two alternators on EFI and PS equiped trucks. Don't pull the lower hose.

The lower hose connects to a metal hard line that is bolted to the block. That hard line goes up and around the alt and reconnects to the water pump via another flexible hose. Un bolt the hard line from the block and you can flex it down and over far enough for the alternator to drop out and hit you in the face..... trust me.

 

I didn't even look at the FSM when I did my first one and actually thought that unbolting that hardline was how it was supposed to be done. Took all of 20 minutes.

 

Doh!!! I forgot mine had that bracket already unbolted. When we did the headgasket, I got everything back together and realized that was still loose. I left it alone because it didn't pose a problem. So that's why mine was so easy to get in. But I think even without that, I think the hose would've flexed enough to twist the alternator in.

 

I changed my alternator in a parking lot once, without draining the coolant. It required the loosening of the ran shroud, but I was able to finagle the alternator out the bottom. It took some tugging, a few choice words and some finesse, but it can be done.

If you have ever played tetris beyond level 1, you can change an alternator on a 22RE